Gsss fill their 'plate' with 5 tries

Gravesend Under 10's played their most consistent and best rugby of the season at the Ayleford Festival.

Losing 2 tries to 1 in their first match against Beccehamians at half time, the coaches and players realised that one particular Beccs player was damaging our defences so tackles were targeted on this impressive speed merchant - this coupled with great teamwork from the Gsss plus a superb attitude right up to the final whistle gave us a 3 - 2 win. Tries from Josh B who was exceptional with his speed and Fin M who again showed a great all round game with tenacious tackling, developing passing and excellent speed.

A well deserved 5 tries to 1 win over Sevenoaks came next with 3 tries to Josh B and 2 to Fin M - again both were excellent but special mention in this game to Toby, Fin CS, Harry and Arron C who all kept the ball moving in attack freeing up space for the try scorers.

Then came the match against the best team in Kent and festival holders: Aylesford. The home side went 1 try up early on. However, the 2nd half pressure from the Gsss with the ball in the Aylesford half for the whole of the second period was great to see. No try arrived but the Bulls (who went on to win the U10 festival) were worried and it was good to see us give them a tough match. William A and Matthew A both impressing throughout the match.

The final of the plate competition saw us play Maidstone. Again, we played as one team - Josh S who was brilliant throughout the festival getting an early try for us. Fin CS added 2 more, both assisted by Max O who popped out passes just at the right time. Fin M got himself another try whilst William A finished off a great team move to give us the win.

A superb festival played in the right spirit by all teams. Gravesend showed real quality throughout and all those players listed above really impressed. Almost impossible to name a stand out player from our squad today as they all did so well but for me, it would be Josh H who won so much ball in and around the breakdown enabling us to attack and go on and score 13 tries to just 4 conceded.